Until the past decade, mental illness has been seen by many as fake or another way to seek attention from others. There was a movement during the early 1900’s, called the National Committee for Mental Hygiene, that supported mental health awareness and the study of mental illness, but it died out after World War II.1 Because of this, there are many people who do not believe in mental health, or that mental health is something they should care about, although there is research to prove otherwise! 

One in four people do not believe that depression, anxiety, substance use, eating disorders, and/or autism are a form of mental illness. A majority of people below the age of 44 (Sixty percent of people) suffer from or care about someone who has suffered from a mental illness while only 20 percent of people over the age of 65 reported suffering from or caring about mental health at all. Forty-eight percent of people diagnosed with some form of mental illness report that they are still treated differently than people with physical illnesses because they are ignorant to mental health research.2